RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Walther Wandering in the Wilderness
Breriocrarpny: C. Oudin, Commentarius de scriptoribus ecclestastibus, li. 149 sqq., Leipsic, 1722; Histoire littéraire de la France, v. 377 sqq.; J. C. F. Bihr, Geschichte der rémischen Litteratur im karolingischen Zeitalter, pp. 114— 115, 229-230, Carlsruhe, 1840; A. Ebert, Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalters, i ii. 185-191, Leipsic, 1880; Diimmler, in NA, iv (1879), 305 sqq.; Achelis, in the Abhandlungen of the Géttingen Academy, new series, iii (1900), no. 3; Rettberg, KD, i, 465-482; KL, xii. 1211-12,
WANDERING CLERGY. See Vaqanrns.
WANDERING JEW: A legendary character doomed to wander over the earth till the return of Christ. The story of the Wandering Jew is not, as has been plausibly supposed, a primitive Christian legend, but a literary product in the guise of a romance. The story first appears in Germany in 1602, in a small pamphlet entitled, Kurze Beschreibung und Erzihlung von einem Jude mit Namen Ahasverus, welcher bei der Kreuzigung Christi selbst persénlich gewesen, auch das Crucifige tiber Christum hab helfen schreien und um Barrabam bitten, which pretends to report a conversation that took place at Hamburg in 1542 between the Wandering Jew and Paul von Hitzen, bishop of Sleswick. The Jew tells Von Eitzen that his name is Ahasuerus, that in the time of Christ he was a cobbler in Jerusalem, and that, because he knew no better, he had joined in the cry, “‘ Crucify him”; further, that when Jesus, bearing the Cross, passed by the door of his house and was intending to lean against the wall to rest, he harshly scolded him away, whereupon Jesus gazed at him fixedly and said: ‘I will stop and rest, but thou shalt go on.”’ Since that time he had had no rest, but had wandered about the world. It is claimed further that Von Eitzen examined him in detail and found him possessed of wonderful knowledge, notably in oriental history. The Jew is then described with reference to his appearance and his humble temperament. Of his adventures it is related merely that he was in Palestine again a century after Christ’s crucifixion, finding Jerusalem destroyed, though an appendix mentions that in the year 1575, or shortly before, he was in Spain. The report is subscribed, “‘ Datwm Sleswick, June 9, 1594.” This relation was then frequently reprinted in the seventeenth century. The title and date became altered, but the substance of the narrative continued the same, except for added moral observations and accounts of new apparitions of the Wandering Jew. From the time of the second series of editions the author’s name purports to be Chrysostomus Duduleus Westphalus, unquestionably a pseudonym. From about the beginning of the eighteenth down into the nineteenth century the story appeared in numerous popular editions in which the text became utterly degenerate. For example, the name “Von Hitzen’’ merged into “ Litz.” The story was early translated into French, Dutch, etc., with characteristic embellishments.
There can be no doubt as to the fact that the story of the Wandering Jew first became known in the year 1602; and it is probable that it originated then. Some s its features, however, bear marked resemblance to earlier narratives. For example, the story of Cartaphilus, Pilate’s doorkeeper, as first related by Roger of Wendover (d. 1237) in his Flores historiarum, unquestionably has much in common
with the story of the Wandering Jew, while still other common traits occur in the legends of ‘‘ deathless John,” etc. Yet in its main outline the story of the Wandering Jew is so distinctive that it must be regarded as the independent invention of an individual. Had the author had any inkling of those earlier tales he would have referred to them in some way, as later editors expressly did. The object of the story is undoubtedly apologetic. How the author happened to designate the well-known theologian Paul von Hitzen as the man who saw the Wandering Jew can not be determined. Cart BerTHeavt.
BisiiocrapHy: J. G. T. Griisse, Der Tannhiuser und der ewige Jude, Dresden, 1861; F. Bassler, Ueber die Sage vom ewigen Juden, Berlin, 1870; C. M. Blass, Der ewige Jude in Deutschland, Stockerau, 1870; F. Helbig, Die Sage vom ewigen Juden, thre poetische Wandlung und Fortbildung, Berlin, 1874; C. Schébel, La Légende du juif-errant, Paris, 1877; G. Paris, Le Juif errant, ib. 1880; M. D. Conway, The Wandering Jew, London, 1881; S. Baring-Gould, Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, ib. 1884; L. Neubaur, Die Sage vom ewigen Juden, Leipsic, 1884; idem, Neue Mittheilungen iiber die Sage vom ewigen Juden, ib. 1893+
WANDERING IN THE WILDERNESS. The Basal Narratives (§ 1).
Methods of Studying the Narratives (§ 2). The Four Main Narratives (§ 3).
Sustenance of the People. Other Tribes (§ 4). Place Names (§ 5).
Chronology and the Route (§ 6).
The accounts of the wandering of the Hebrews in the desert are contained principally in the books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Ex. xv. 22 tells of the start from the Red Sea, and xix. 1 of the arrival at Sinai; then the narrative of the wandering is interrupted by the collections of laws, except
for the golden calf episode in Ex. 1. The Basal xxxii.—xxxili., but is taken up and con- Narratives. tinued in Num. x. 11-xiv., xvi—xvii.,
XX.—-XX1.; xxii. 1 states the arrival in the territory of Moab, and Num. xxxiii. contains a statement of the stations of the journey from Rameses in Egypt to the plains of Moab. Further, in Deut. i. 6-11. 24 is a résumé of the events occurring on the march from Horeb to the Arnon, while x. 6-9 reviews a fragment of the journey and the separation of the Levites. Outside the Pentateuch are only short references to the wandering (Josh. xxiv. 7-8; Judges xi. 16-17; in the prophetical books and the Psalms, particularly Ps. Ixxviii.), which, however, in the main depend upon the ac-
.counts in the Pentateuch but present some singu-
larities. Inits present form the Pentateuch contains about fifteen narratives of events during the wandering, excluding parallels, eleven of which deal with the mutiny of the people against Moses or Yahweh, in eight cases punishment follows, in four cases the murmuring ends in gifts from Yahweh; two accounts of successful war occur (Ex. xvii. 8-16; Num. xxi. 1-3). Deuteronomy views the events of the journey from the point of view of education; Amos regards the period as one of especial favor from Yahweh; Hosea dates rebellion of the people from the entrance into Canaan, as does Jeremiah; Ezekiel sees in the whole history of Israel, including the desert period, only disregard of Yahweh, which view governs the later historians of Israel, and so they account for the destruction of the
Wandering in the Wilderness